The Guardians
by The Lady Cloudy
Summary: The Guardians; vigilantes from both sides of the conflict, the ten members of the group seem to strive to stop the fighting before an all out war breaks. The X-Men want to recruit them. The Brotherhood want them to fight for the mutant cause. The law enforcement want them behind bars. Only problem is, no one knows who they are.
1. Prologue

The Guardians

* * *

A new school year is starting at Bayville High and with it, new trouble. Apocalypse may have been defeated, but that won't stop the tension that is brewing between humans and mutants. Each group fears the other and fights break out, especially around Bayville, the epicenter of all things mutant. The X-Men can't protect everyone and a new evil is looming on the horizon, with solo mutants dying or being assaulted every day. The human authorities won't stop this since they're too busy dealing with the loss of human lives by mutant killers. Behind the scenes, something isn't right and no one seems to see it. At least, most don't see it.

The Guardians; vigilantes from both sides of the conflict, the ten members of the group seem to strive to stop the fighting before an all out war breaks. Made up of six girls, four boys, and only seven of them are mutants. The X-Men want to recruit them. The Brotherhood want them to fight for the mutant cause. The law enforcement want them behind bars. And someone else wants to control them for personal use. There's only one problem.

No one knows who they are. Hiding behind masks, no one seems to be able to catch them or find any DNA evidence. The hunt is on to find the true identity of the Guardians, while all they want is to preserve the peace.

* * *

A slender figure dressed all in black aside from the red cloth tied over the middle of her face aside from the wholes that had been cut out for her eyes and the matching scarlet G's drawn on the palms of her hands. Blonde hair tied up in a ponytail blew in the wind, flying slightly into the girl's face. Nine other figures surrounded her, not all of them human. Five of them were obviously female, but the other four were males. They were dressed identically to the girl with the red mask- black tank tops, cropped leather jackets with 3/4 length sleeves, and black skinny jeans. The only difference was the color of the mask, each of them had a differently colored mask.

"Hey, Red," one of the girls said, smiling as she took a seat on the rooftop. Her gaze went past the others and went to the city skyline, the night light's of Bayville glowing.

Red ignored the girl. "I'm sure you know why I've gathered you here."

"You really wanted to use that phrase," a boy joked, earning him one of Red's glare's.

"No. School is starting again so we will have to schedule training around that and it will be much harder for us to continue protecting this city while trying to maintain grades, play sports, and keep up appearances. And I don't want any of you to give things up to keep being a part of the Guardians, you need to seem normal. Play sports, dance, or even sing in the freakin' Glee Club if that's what you like and did last year." Red snapped.

"Why can't we just join the X-Men?" someone asked. "That would be a lot easier for us and we'd be able to protect the same amount of people as we do now."

"Because we stand up for both sides. They only stand for mutants. Humans need a voice, too." Red explained as she paced in front of the group.

"Why do humans matter to you Red? You're a mutant."

"Because my friends are human, some of them, and so are my parents. And I know, you all know someone who's human that you want to do right for. So, let's keep it up." Red snapped, turning to face them as she stopped pacing. "Now, drop and give me fifty. Then you can go home."

"We just ran a mile!" A boy complained as they all got down and started to do push-ups.

* * *

**A/N: The form is on my profile. Please enter original characters. The submissions will be due by April 15th. **

**I also need, a couple of villians. One big villian (PM me for the form) and a couple teenage mutant and human criminals. **


	2. Chapter 1

**The Guardians**

**Chapter One**

* * *

Kylie walked down the hallway, joining the flock of students that were hurrying towards the lunch room, the faint echo of the bell still ringing in the hallway. Her blonde hair was braided down her back, giving a full view of her face and her blue-grey eyes. Like most school days, she wearing athletic clothes—a pair of black leggings, a gray Bayville track and field sweatshirt, and her blue running shoes from last season. Her eyes darted around the hallway, immediately looking for anyone else she knew as she entered the lunch room.

The members of her track team were sitting in the far right corner, two lunch tables pushed together to make room for all of them. Some of the known mutants form the Xavier Institute, the ones who still wanted to attend Bayville High, were at a table by the window that overlooked the parking lot. Various cliques and groups of friends were also seated all across the cafeteria.

Ben McLemore and Hugo Zeller were sitting with their friends from the swim team at one of the tables close to the cafeteria line. Hugo, another junior, was lean and strong like all swimmers, and had a decent amount of tan to his skin. Something Kylie didn't understand how he kept all through winter. His blond hair, that somehow managed to be messy even though it was short, fell into his hazel eyes. If she were to stand next to him, he would only be four inches taller, a gap easily bridged by heels.

Ben was totally different. One of the three varsity swim team co-captains, at seventeen-years-old, he was enormous. Easily six feet and three inches, he looked as though he belonged on the basketball team instead of the swim team. His eyes were the same shade of hazel as Hugo's, but his hair was longer and raven colored instead of blonde.

One of the few seniors on the Guardians, Jason Delek, sat with his group of two other seniors, Raiden Brennan and Rita Carmichael. Rita was human, but Raiden was a mutant with the ability to manipulate shadows. They had both been considered as potential Guardians when Kylie had founded the group several weeks ago. But in the end, ten had seemed like a good number and it seemed dangerous to share a secret between too many people.

"Kylie!" Camry Loudoi called from a table in the middle of the cafeteria, waving to catch her friend's attention. A curvy brunette, Camry was the type of pretty that people would give a second look to, but it didn't have boys asking her out constantly. Fair skinned, her dark brown hair made her appear paler than most, something that only made her hazel eyes pop even more.

Kylie hurried over to Camry, not liking the attention being shouted at was getting her. The two of them had been friends since fifth grade when Kylie transferred from St. Mary Margaret's Catholic School to Bayville Elementary after her mother decided she didn't like the principal. She'd been the first one "tapped" for the Guardians and was the first human member.

"Way to make a scene," Kylie commented as soon as she sat down.

"Oh stop being Red. Did you bring lunch or are you buying?" Camry asked her, changing the subject quickly. Normally, Camry didn't like drawing attention to herself and wouldn't usually yell across the crowded cafeteria.

"I brought it," Kylie replied and pulled out a brown paper bag from her back pack. "Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, apple slices, miniature water bottle, and corn chips. Are you on some kind of sugar high? Because you're really loud."

"Jason gave me a Redbull yesterday after training for today since I we were out so late. He thought I might be tired," Camry replied as she organized her own lunch on the tray in front of her.

"He's got to stop with the energy drinks, another stunt like this and I swear I'll…" she trailed off, not sure what she could do to a member of her own team. Especially one who was five inches taller than her and had a definite weight advantage.

"Do nothing?" Camry finished for her, starting on her lunch as she ate on slice of orange before having a spoonful of Greek yogurt, then a nibble on a bit of her salad.

"I suppose so," Kylie sighed as she allowed her gaze to drift over to the table where the remainder of the Guardians were sitting.

Evangeline Thanos was the youngest member of the group at fourteen years old. She was the smallest of the group at five feet with a petite build that was slightly pear-like, wider hips and narrow top. Blonde hair that was closer to honey than Kylie's dirty blonde, fell nearly to her waist and was loose. Her skin was tanned from the recent summer sun exposure and her eyes were brown, but looked lighter because of the light at the moment.

Rose Rios, the only other freshman on the team, and the only Hawaiian-American. She was barely two inches taller than Evangeline wit wavy brown hair in a low ponytail. More muscular than Evangeline, she was slim with legs like a runner. Her skin was tanner than anyone else on the team, something many of the girls were jealous of.

Dakota Shade, also called Kota, was the only one on the team with a visible physical mutation and it had been hard for Kylie to decide if she was a good choice or not. Thankfully, her lupine tall was hidden in the baggy cargo pants that she always seemed to wear. She was five foot seven, but looked taller because of the confident way in which she held herself. Toned and obviously muscular, she was more intimidating than many of the boys. With piercing green eyes, nails that looked more like claws, and sharp canines. Her choppy black hair fell to her chin.

Jade Madara, one of the Guardian's sophomores, was two inches taller than Kylie with a slender build. She was leaning over to talk to one of her gymnastics friends. Her hair was jet black and used to have a purple streak, but Kylie insisted she dye it back. Her amber eyes shown out from behind the curtain of hair. Her boyfriend, Lewis, was sitting beside her and was obviously making everyone uncomfortable.

Danny McCain was right next to Kota, his skin was the color of coffee-and-cream and made his green eyes stand out. His curly hair was short and he stood taller even than the girl he sat next to. Dressed comfortably, he was trying to flirt with Kota even though he know she wasn't interested in him whatsoever.

"They're fine," Camry commented before taking a small bit of her salad. "Stop staring, you're drawing attention."

"Says the girl who screamed across the cafeteria," Kylie replied harshly, but there was a small smile on her face.

* * *

A tall, dark man casually walked into the oversized office and glanced around appreciatively. The room was enormous with walls the color of sleet and a large mahogany desk in the middle of it all. A slight woman sat behind the desk, her arms extended, muscles tensed up like a cat ready to spring. She looked very much like a cat and in the dark of the room her blue eyes almost seemed like they were glowing.

"You made it," the woman behind the desk observed. "Have you brought the girl?"

"Of course," the man replied and a tiny figure glided into the room, heels clicking as she walked. She was incredibly petite, with dark hair flowing behind her. In the darkness and faint glow of the fluorescent light on the desk, the newcomer looked more ghost than human.

"There are more, correct?" the woman behind the desk asked, her gaze flickering back to the man and away from the girl. She was careful not to look in the girl's eyes, which were an unnatural shade of sickly green.

"Five."

"Only five?" The woman inquired, one of her eyebrows crawling up her forehead in sight shock. There was an amusement in her words.

"There are ten of them, we only need to destroy them. And I'm sure that we'll find how to make a traitor out of one of their own." The man informed her.

"That shouldn't be a problem," the girl said and flashed her teeth at the woman, but it was more of a grimace than a smile.

"We'll get them and I'm sure that things will all come out in our favor," the man said, glancing at his watch. "In the meantime, we need to get going."

Without goodbyes, the father and daughter swept out of the room.

* * *

**To check if your OC is included in the story, please check my profile. I'm sorry this took so longer; I've been caught up with track season and AP US History studying, but that's over. Hopefully, I'll be able to update more this summer once school lets out. But keep in mind that I am training for my first half marathon so I will be busy. **


	3. Chapter 2

**The Guardians**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Kylie Hollis, often known by the alias Red, was not pleased. Not with anything. Her team was whining about never getting a night after she had given them almost a week off. Jason Delek, also known as Yellow, was particularly getting on her nerves. When he wasn't complaining about how he never had time to practice his violin, he was hitting on her. She wasn't sure which she wanted to break more; Yellow's neck or his violin's. Cranky Red was not some to be trifled with, especially by her teammates.

They had all gathered on top of a five story apartment building on the edge of downtown Bayville, with everyone wearing their uniforms. It was to Red's annoyance that some of them, violating her orders, were starting to customize their customs. A silver metal choker sat around Kota's neck, matching her codename of Silver. Her tail swished behind her and there was a smile stretching her lips when she noticed Red looking at the collar. It seemed to say "whatcha gonna do about it?"

"At least they all showed up," Red grumbled under her breath as she paced in front of the nine. Sometimes they were like family and other times she wanted to hurt them, usually following rather vulgar jokes. As Yellow had learned, she didn't take jokes well.

"Who showed up?" Rose, a.k.a. Green, piped up with her usual curiosity. She was a fast runner and on the track team with Red as a sprinter. Although they hardly talked at school, she and Red got along well enough. Green's parents had been killed and Red's sister had been murdered, giving them grief to bond over.

"Us," Jade Madara, a human member of the team known as Purple, snapped. "Moron."

"Easy, Purples," Danny McCain, called Orange, urged and slung an arm around Purple's shoulder. His crush on the spunky girl was obvious, despite all of Red's rules about no dating among the group. Purple was obeying this choice rule and shrugged his arm off, moving away with a mock look of disgust. When she was sure Red wasn't looking, she allowed a small, secret smile to flicker across her lips for a fraction of a second.

Hugo, codenamed Cyan, cleared his throat for attention then whispered; "Please ease up on the yelling, my mutant ability is super hearing and you're all giving me a monster headache."

"Yeah, let's be quiet," Ben, called Blue, practically yelled at everyone, making Cyan wince in pain and cover his ears. Blue usually stood up for his best swimming buddy because of Cyan's shyness and the fact that he was almost always quiet. Even his own voice, when raised too much, hurt his incredibly sensitive ears. In school, he had taken up wearing earplugs. Now, he was considering bringing them to Guardian functions.

Red rolled her eyes, facing away from the group for a moment before she spun around with a dramatic turn. In the cool autumn wind, her blonde ponytail waved wildly like Silver's black tail. Her eyes fixed on Camry Loudoi, nicknamed White for Guardian work, and Evangeline Thanos, called Gray. They were still talking after everyone else had fallen silent. Something that Gray rarely did. She was the most obedient and innocent of all of them, always assigned to the joke missions. Never going where blood might be shed.

"Blue said quiet, didn't he?" Red asked, walking up to Gray and White who looked up at her. White would normally have been a little scared, if she was with anyone but Gray. Red had a soft spot for Gray. That much was obvious. Kind of like she was trying to become Chelsea and replacing herself with a pseudo-little sister.

"Yes, I believe he did." White replied and Red stepped away with an irked sigh.

"As you all know, there have been reports of mutant activity in town recently. An unnamed group of them has been wreaking havoc at both day and night. This would not be much of an issue if it were not for the Presidential elections at this time. New York Senator Carlotta van der Blink is running for office this year and has been a target for many mutant attacks. We are responsible for making the city safe for her visit in two weeks." Red explained to them, beginning again to pace in front of the small group. "Is that clear?"

"Why is this our problem?" Yellow asked, smiling. He just wanted to antagonize her, get a reaction. Any reaction.

"We are the _Guardians_. We protect people who can't protect themselves and make this city a better place to live for everyone. We help humans and mutants." Red repeated the mantra that she had spoken at least a thousand times.

Gray raised her hand and Red nodded to her, allowing the fourteen-year-old to speak. "So how many villains are we talking about in the city?"

"So far, five have been spotted. Four girls and one boy, but I have reason to suspect that they are not acting alone. And something is going on with this election. If the X-Men don't get to the bottom of it, then we will for sure." Red told them and Gray raised her hand yet again.

"Yes?"

"So, who are these villains? If they've been causing trouble then they have to have some kind of name? Are they a group like us?" Gray asked, looking around like she expected the new villains to pop up on the rooftop.

"There's someone called Zero G, which I think is short for either Zero Gravity or Zero Girl. She's able to manipulate gravity. Nemesis has weak abilities over controlling darkness and can predict the futures of those she touches. Don't let a girl with different colored eyes touch you. Another person you shouldn't let touch you is Panic, who secretes toxins that induce powerful hallucinations. Puppeteer is a telekinetic, who can only move herself and others. Mirror can mimic your physical abilities and powers as you perform them, so we'll be wearing goggles from here on out to prevent further problems." Red told the rest of her team, starting to make them look uncomfortable.

"How old are these people?" White piped up, tilting her head slightly to the side in a birdlike fashion.

"Teenagers. Puppeteer seems to be the youngest and is close to Gray's age, but all of them are dangerous. Age doesn't really matter." Red clarified, she had stopped pacing and was standing in front of White and Gray.

"That's right! Age is just a number!" Yellow yelled, making the rest of the team break down into giggles. Red threw him a murderous glare. "You're sixteen and I'm eighteen, but that doesn't matter, babe."

"Don't call me babe, ever again." Red said without even bothering to look at Yellow. The fury in her voice conveyed her meaning well enough without her even having to look. "And age does matter."

"Why shouldn't he be calling you babe?" A new voice asked, two light footsteps accompanied it, clicking like high heels. The Guardians all turned in wide eyed shock to stare at the newcomer who was intruding on their meeting, something that had never happened before. They had always before found the villains, making this an entirely new experience.

A female of about seventeen years old, with a well-muscled build that stood at 5'7" with obvious tone in her arms and legs. From behind her black mask, dark brown eyes fixed them a cold stare that did not seem to fit her warm looks at all. Olive colored skin and wavy black hair filled with streaks; mint green, red, purple, and blue. Piercings ran up and down her ears, making her look all the more intimidating. A fitted red shirt with ¾ length sleeves exposed part of her midriff and a pair of black jeans rested low on her hips, completing the home made superhero look.

The black ZG that had been embroidered on the middle of her shirt made her identity obvious. This was Zero G.

"Code 1, assume positions!" Red yelled, staring at Zero G in shock as the others lined up behind her. More physical members hurried to stand behind her; Silver, Purple, and White. White's knives were out in a second, pulled from the sheaths in her belt were they were kept at her hips. Purple bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. Silver transformed to an enormous black wolf, her tail lashing from side to side. Red cracked her knuckles and smiled.

Green pulled out the seeds she kept in her pocket, a couple of her special purple roses begin to grow and her eyes glowed purple, the sign she was using her abilities. Sparks traveled up and down Gray's arms. A gust of wind surged around Blue, lifting him a little bit off the ground, approximately four inches.

Orange, Cyan, and Yellow fell back. Yellow's sound manipulation was not used when no one else had earplugs in. Orange was there tech whiz, the one who had fixed Cerebro to keep it from detecting them when they'd broken in months ago. Cyan's sensitive hearing often made him a liability and he was usually surveillance.

Code #1 was a full attack with Silver and Red taking on her left side, White and Purple taking her right side. They distracted her for long enough to Gray to charge up enough electricity or for Rose's plants to be ready to release their toxins. It was one of the ten "plays" that they had practiced to perfection. Something that generally worked perfectly.

Silver snarled and rushed at Zero G, who seemed taken off guard by a giant dog charging at her, teeth bared. Red swiftly followed suit, barreling straight at Zero G without even worrying what got in her way. The knife was out of White's hand within a second and flew straight towards Zero G and suddenly everything stopped.

Everyone on the roof, with the exception of Zero, was pinned to the roof by the force of gravity. The knife clattered uselessly at Zero G's feet and she kicked it away. Each of the Guardians was helplessly pinned to the gravel of the roof, almost painfully.

"I'm not here to fight," Zero said as she dug the heel of her boot in-between Red's shoulder blades. "I just want you to consider our offer. All of you. Join us and then there will be no more of this silly fighting. And if you decline, we'll have to put an end to you. You're a constant nuisance. We will find out your true identities, we will come after your families, and then when we think you've suffered enough, we'll kill you."

"Okay, great psycho villain rant. But why not just kill us now and get it over with? Doesn't that make more sense?" Yellow asked, seeming a little puzzled.

"Don't give her ideas!" White yelled and Silver growled her agreement.

"Because there's no fun in that," Zero sighed, taking her foot off Red's back. "And I wasn't ordered to kill you just yet. And she wants that privilege to be hers. Good-bye, little Guardians. Unless any of you want to come with me."

A resounding chorus of "no's" and "never's" immediately followed and Zero glided off the roof, disappearing from sight. A moment after she left, gravity returned to normal and the Guardians were no longer pinned down against the roof of the building. Upon Red's insistence, they searched the area for an hour but there was no trace of Zero G. No evidence that she had ever even been there.

Finally, after midnight, Red allowed them all to go home.

* * *

Professor Xavier sat behind his desk, looking at the two new recruits that were seated in the chairs across from him. Adal Kauffman and Emery O'Reilly had been assigned to the task of watching the students of Bayville High over the past few weeks. Masquerading as exchange students—Adal from Germany, Emery from Ireland—had not been hard. Because no one knew they attended Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, they were not known mutants and were trusted at school.

"Have you noticed any unusual things going on around school in the past week? In our last meeting, you said there were several groups of students that you had been keeping an eye on?" The Professor asked finally, breaking the semi-awkward silence.

"Yes," Adal spoke first, her German accent tinting her word. "There are a few students we're watching. There's a group of students who sit together at lunch; Grace Oberlin, Rita Carmichael, and Anita Benson. Grace has obvious knowledge of military combat training, Rita appears to possess a vast knowledge of medicine, and Anita is a child prodigy. Exactly the type of people of would make up the Guardians."

"Of course, we aren't sure yet about them. And there are others," Emery added, her Irish accent only slightly in her words.

"Is there any proof any of them are mutants or what colors they are?" The Professor inquired.

"None of them are Red, that's obvious. Rita's skin is too dark and her hair is black. Anita's too young, she's only thirteen. And Grace has too dark hair, it's brown, not blonde." Emery replied. "And there are far too many blondes with blue eyes for us just to narrow down who Red is based on her physical description. If you could give us any more description of her."

"Once we find Red, we'll find the others. They're bound to be her friends." Adal added.

"Have you tried looking into groups of ten at your school? Six girls, four boys. Maybe instead of trying to find one person, you should look for the whole group." The Professor suggested. There was a chance that the Guardians weren't always so careful.

"We'll try, Professor," Adal said, glancing over at Emery, who nodded.

"Thank you for your help," The Professor said and the two girls departed, Adal sharing more theories with Emery.

Professor Xavier let out a sigh after the office door shut behind the two girls. He'd been working for a great deal of time to find the Guardians. Cerebro couldn't detect them, someone had broken into the mansion several months ago, and the Guardians were starting to cause property damage and injuries. At first, it had been assumed they were nothing more than a vigilante group that would disappear within a matter of weeks. Then they had started to cause problems as more joined until there was ten of them. Some people were angry, others were celebrating the Guardians. Perhaps the most dangerous was the imitators.

There had been a mutant called Amaranth who set fires in the name of the Guardians, trying to smoke out villains. Army Green had just been a lunatic with a giant automatic weapon. Emerald had been a pair of twins who could only control earth when they were holding hands. Some had gotten violent.

* * *

A man of forty-five and a girl of fifteen, who looked enough like him that it was obvious she was his daughter, were sitting out on a large back porch and gazing out over an enormous backyard. Dressed in an expensive black suit, the man was all darkness. Mediterranean olive skin, short black hair, and piercing eyes black as ink. His daughter was the same darkness as him, wearing a black Alexander McQueen dress with long sleeves. Her eyes were covered by a pair of Gucci wrap sunglasses, leaving nothing visible.

"Has there been any message from Cobalt?" the girl asked as a maid dressed all in black appeared and set down two cocktails on the table between their chairs. She hurried away as quickly as possible, not even looking back at the two who were sitting on the deck.

"Yes," the man told her after a moment. "She set Zero on them last night, trying to scare some of those punks into joining her side. She's going to probably have a few others try hunting them down. When they don't join of their own accord—and mark my words they won't, they're worthless brats and they know they won't survive on Cobalt's side—she'll make them join. Something about them being powerful, I think she said. Bunch of crap."

"Papa, I think they probably have some worth if it's taken so long for—"

"Shut up, they're just brats. Soon they'll no longer be a nuisance." He snapped.

* * *

**I'd like to thank , MysteryAgain, TheWritingGirl23, ninaninagrrr, meli31295, ShadowMaster77, and LemonLemma for reviewing the first chapter! You guys are great! Check out the poll on my profile for favorite Guardian, the Guardian with the most votes will get a chapter about them. **


	4. Chapter 3

**The Guardians**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

"Welcome to Bayville High School, Miss Mancini," Principal Evanson, the new principal of Bayville High after Kelly left, said to the girl standing in front of her. She'd raised her eyebrows initially and had only put them down when she knew the girl was looking at her. Dressed in a pair of dark blue Ralph Lauren jeans and carrying a Burberry handbag, this new girl looked more like she didn't belong than even the biggest freaks at Bayville High. Her sunglasses still had not been removed and it looked like someone had done her hair and make-up for her that morning.

"Thank you, although, this crappy little school is a far cry from the private tutors and elite boarding schools I grew up." Giana Mancini replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder with her hand.

"Miss Mancini, if you could please refrain from using that kind of language. That is punishable by detention here," Principal Evanson reminded her.

"Here's twenty bucks. I don't get detentions..." Giana's mouth twisted into a somewhat demented smile.

Principal Evanson's eyes went wide and she asked "Are you trying to bribe me, Miss Mancini? That is not acceptable!"

However, several other twenties—to adding up to three hundred dollars—finally convinced Principal Evanson to keep Giana out of trouble.

* * *

During fourth period study, Rose and Evangeline were sitting out on the field behind the school with Hugo and Ben. It was were all of the students hung out while the weather was still nice. What they didn't know was they were being watched by Adal and Emery, who they weren't even paying any kind of attention to them. Instead, they were doing what Kylie had forbidden and were talking about Guardian business at school.

"Red is such a slave driver!" Ben sighed, massaging his arms. Between swimming and Kylie making them all do push-ups until their arms gave out. Normally, Kylie made him do a quick set of push-ups or jumping jacks. Just like Jason had complained during training, she had been in a truly awful mood and, like she always did, Kylie took it out on them.

"Believe me, I know," Rose replied as she leaned back and winced. "I've never done that many crunches. My parents are starting to notice that I'm getting more in shape. And that I'm eating a lot more."

"My clothes are starting to get loose in places in tight in others. All the running we've done, my calves don't fit into my skinny jeans." Evangeline added, rubbing her legs unconsciously. They were sore and like always, Kylie had told her to run through the pain. She told everyone that, even when Jason had gotten shin splints.

"This dress I was going to wear to an art show—some of work was being shown at a local gallery—normally is tight on top and flares out at the waist. It just hangs over my stomach and I have to wear a belt with it now." Rose complained as she looked down at her stomach, lifting her shirt up just a little bit.

"You're going to give me a run for my money on best six-pack in the group," Ben said earnestly as he peered at Rose's stomach. Automatically, she dropped her shirt and hugged her stomach, hiding it from him as she turned pink.

"Actually, you guys should see Red. I get why she doesn't go to the beach, she has, like, guy abs." Evangeline giggled a little bit, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

Rose snorted and told her; "Don't tell her that, she wouldn't be too happy to hear that. And don't tell Jason, either, I bet he's already got enough of a drive to get her shirt off. No need to give him a teaser."

"Why does Jason want to see if Red has abs?" Evangeline asked innocently.

Ben's eyebrows shot up as he made eye contact with Rose and she shook her head slightly, hoping that the freshman among them wouldn't notice. Evangeline seemed confused as she looked between the two of them.

"He just does," Ben said cautiously to Evangeline. He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her over, whispering something in her ear. Her eyes shot wide open and the pink on her cheeks turned the same color as a ripe tomato. She pulled away, looking shocked.

"Does that mean that Jason loves her?" Evangeline asked. "If he wants to do that with her? My parents said—"

Rose interrupted before Evangeline could get any further in her protests. "People don't always do that with people they love. But you should make sure you wait till you really love someone before you do that. Boys are bad about that, they just want to do things with girls. Only let the good ones. The ones who love you."

"You're scaring her," Ben told Rose, hugging a slightly traumatized looking and embarrassed Evangeline to himself. He ran a hand through her golden hair, trying to calm her down at least a little bit.

Rose smirked a little bit to herself and mouthed _looks like Jason isn't the only one who wants to get someone's shirt off. _

This made Ben's cheeks flush crimson.

All the while, Adal and Emery had been listening to their conversation as soon as they had heard the two of them mention Red. Although they were aware that they could be talking about a friend named Red, the two girls also understood that this was the best lead they were going to get. Now they had names; Jason, Rose, Ben, and Evangeline. But still no clue who Red was.

As discreetly as they could, the two girls rose and quickly walked away, trying to keep their pace somewhat normal. Hiding the excitement and keeping from turning back to stare was the hardest for the two of them. They said nothing, just speed walked inside and slipped away to contact the Professor.

As soon as Adal had collected her thoughts enough, she loudly thought: _Jason Delek, Ben McLemore, Rose Rios, and Evangeline Thanos are Guardians._

* * *

Jason, Kylie, and Camry were sitting together at the lunch table. To keep a lower profile now that they'd had an encounter with Zero G, they'd split up the lunch group. Oftentimes, many Guardians just went to the library or at lunch outside. A lot of them spent lunchtime studying, alone to avoid suspicion. Their Guardian lives were beginning to grate on their nerves and making things just generally insane.

Currently, Kylie was having everyone keep an eye out for the other mutants at Bayville High. Aside from the known X-Men, who were strictly off-limits, there were several others that were known and some she was sure were mutants, but there had been no confirmation.

Lily Greeves was sitting across the cafeteria with her small group of friends, laughing and eating. She'd rejected an invitation to the Guardians two months earlier and Kylie was still watching out to see if she would change her mind. So far, Lily seemed content to go on living her life and pretending that she was perfectly normal.

"She was dumb not to take you up on your offer," Camry said as she glanced over at Kylie and noticed her friend's stony expression.

"I always wonder if it was smart to join this. Maybe we're crazy and she's sane." Jason points out, earning him a death stare from Kylie. He looks away, his cheeks tinged with a little bit of pink.

Kylie's attention zeroed in on Lily again as the petite fifteen-year-old tosses her wavy dark hair over one shoulder with the flick of her wrist. Her big green eyes are too busy watching her friends that she doesn't even notice the three people that walk in through the cafeteria doors. A hush falls over the room slowly, like a wave.

Zero G was standing in the doorway, fully in costume, flanked by two other girls. One was dressed all in black with two different colored eyes—dark blue and ice blue—and the other was wearing mostly pink, with only a little bit of black. They were Nemesis and Puppeteer.

Nemesis, the girl with different colored eyes, had skin so pale that it could almost be seen through. This fact was only extenuated by her raven-colored hair, that was braided and fell down almost to the middle of her back. There were no sleeves on the black shirt that she wore, probably to show off the grotesque series of jagged scars over her left shoulder.

Puppeteer looked very out of place in her pink skirt and matching hair ribbons. With straight blonde hair, pulled up into pigtails with the pink hair ribbons, and blue eyes, she looked enough like Kylie to be her little sister. She even had the same few freckles on her face as the leader of the Guardians did.

"If you would all do us a favor and get on the ground," Zero G said and the gravity in most of the room slammed the students to the floor. Jason cursed and tried to crawl forward, but Kylie grabbed his arm and shock her head as if to say _we can't. _Camry shot Kylie a confused look, which she ignored as she continued to watch Zero G, Nemesis, and Puppeteer.

A few people had started to float. Lily Greeves looked like she might be sick to her stomach as she helplessly twirled several feet above her table. Her friends—Lacey McGregor and Clara Reyes—were also floating and looked about as terrified as she did. At least Clara did, Lacey had fainted and looked even limper than the other two.

"We were sent to give all the mutants of Bayville High a message. Especially the Guardians. Cobalt says that if you don't cooperate with us, we will destroy everything you hold dear. Starting with your recruits. And believe us, we will find you. The longer we have to wait, the more innocents will die. As for the other mutants here, you can reveal yourselves now and then leave with us." Nemesis announced as she jumped up onto a lunch table, making the two girls under it begin to cry. In response, she stamped her foot, which resulted in sobs. A small smile crossed her face.

Jason squeezed his eyes shut, no longer wanting to watch the scene unfold before him. His hands were balled into fists. Camry looked equally torn, but her eyes had gone as wide as saucers and she was unable to look away. Kylie appeared like a mix of the two—hands clutching the leg of her chair, but her eyes wide open and transfixed.

Puppeteer laughed and raised her arms, making Lily begin to spin wildly. The fifteen-year-old started to scream in terror. With a flick of her wrist, the pink-clad girl sent Lily flying across the room and into a wall. She began to move her hands again and Lily started to stand when a beam of ruby colored energy hit her in the chest.

A bubble of darkness formed in each of Nemesis' hands as she swung around, looking for the source of the energy that had hurled Puppeteer into someone's lunch. She finally discovered Cyclops and Jean Grey were standing in the cafeteria doors that the three of them had just come through. Both of them were also wearing their full uniforms.

It tore the three Guardians apart to watch as the two X-Men saved the day and the three villains made their escape. Kylie had stopped looking at the scene, but instead had noticed that the new girl Giana Mancini was smiling at.

* * *

** A/N: I'd like to thank , The Knave of Northland, The Snazzy Tomato Llama (I love your penname!), MrProWrestling, ranlou, ninaninagrrr, meli31295, PolkaDottedElephants, , JackOLillie, and The Blue Jester for reviewing the last chapter. I apologize for the wait on this one, but my grandmother recently passed away and it's always hard to write when something like that happens. Hopefully, y'all can forgive me for taking so long and hopefully I'll get another chapter to you by next weekend. **


	5. Chapter 4

**The Guardians**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Xavier had called the newer recruits into his office; they were the team in charge of anything Guardian related. It was a local problem and not too dangerous, making them a perfect challenge for new team members. Currently, the team comprised of the six most recent new additions. There was Lily Greeves, who had come to them only yesterday after she'd been attacked at school and was able to possess people. Alyssia Capella was a seventeen-year-old from a small Sicilian town and had the ability to control sound. Marnie was only fourteen, but her ability to control water had helped her to prove she was capable beyond her years. Adal Kauffman and Emery O'Reilly, the two "foreign exchange students", were also a part of this team. Finally, there was Raiden Brennan, a shadow manipulator and the only male of the group.

"I would like to tell all of you the good news." Xavier began, leaning forward in his chair. "Recently, Adal and Emery discovered the identities of four of the Guardians. Jason Delek is Yellow, Ben McLemore is Blue, Evangeline Thanos is Gray, and Rose Rios is Green."

"But, I'm in class with Rose and Evangeline. They can't be Guardians! They just don't act at all like the Guardians..." Marnie protested, shock and anger taking turns twisting her face.

"I'd sooner believe you if you told me that Kylie Hollis was a Guardian. None of them have the spunk to be Guardians. Besides, if they were Guardians, wouldn't they have pounced on Puppeteer, Nemesis, and Zero G when they attacked Lily? They are called the Guardians. Shouldn't they be guarding people?" Raiden objected, the shock in his voice obvious.

"We overheard Ben, Rose, and Evangeline talking about Red being a 'slave driver' and they mentioned Jason. Seeing as there is only one Jason in our school, they were obviously referring to Jason Delek. From what we heard, Jason has some romantic interest in Red. It should be relatively easy to find her now," Adal explained logically. It was obvious from the concentration in gray eyes that she was trying very hard to suppress her accent. It wasn't working.

Marnie snorted at the last part of Adal's statement.

"Is there something you'd like to share with us, Marnie?" Professor Xavier asked, turning his attention her. Her cheeks turned slightly pink with embarrassment as everyone's eyes focused in on her.

"Yeah, actually," Marnie said, sitting up a little bit straighter. "If you can name pretty much any girl that Jason _doesn't_ hit on, it would be a miracle. Finding Red might be harder than you think."

"I can name one!" Alyssia Capella giggled, raising her hand. Her black hair cascaded down her back as it slid off her shoulder when she threw her arm into the air. With her hand in the air, it was easy to see the black rose tattoo on her wrist.

Xavier nodded at her and waited patiently for her to speak.

"The new girl. Giana Mancini. No one likes her except for all of the other mean girls. She always wears designer everything, smells like nasty perfume, and kind of talks like a mob boss whenever she gets really bad." Alyssia explained, leaning back in her chair and trying to suppress giggles.

"She never takes off her sunglasses!" Marnie interjected.

"Giana Mancini?" Professor Xavier asked. "I'll look into her. Cerebro has been malfunctioning recently, but over ten different mutants have been detected in Bayville."

"Are the Guardians the reason that Cerebro is broken?" Raiden asked, looking a little shocked. All of the recent recruits actually looked pretty shocked, actually. All aside from Lily, who hadn't been around long enough to even really know what Cerebro was.

Sensing Lily's confusion, the Professor turned to her and began to explain. "Cerebro is a device that helps us at the Institute find and help out mutants who have recently discovered their powers. Just like you. With it not working, it puts many new mutants at risk."

"But did the Guardians break it?" Alyssia interrupted, leaning on the edge of her seat with excitement. Many of them had yet to understand the severity of the situation, mostly because the majority of them came from accepting homes.

"There was a break in shortly after the Guardians were believed to have formed, but we aren't sure if they were even involved in any of this." Professor Xavier started to say, but the recruits started to toss around conspiracy theories.

* * *

An abandoned warehouse outside of town had been renovated to fit the needs of the group that was calling themselves Five. Comprising of the five seemingly solo villains that were new in Bayville—Panic, Zero G, Nemesis, Puppeteer, and Mirror. Only in the Warehouse—Panic's ever so creative name for their hide-out—and at school was where they felt safe enough to use their real names. The Warehouse had been purchased and fixed-up by Cobalt, the mysterious benefactor who Evil Eye worked for.

There was a main room that took up half the warehouse space and had an enormous, high ceiling that resulted in every noise echoing. Beanbags, chairs that hung from the ceiling and doubled as neon colored swings—albeit incredibly comfortable swings. Modern lounge chairs were set-up and half a wall was an enormous set-up of flat screens. Scattered neon rugs of a variety of textures were littered across the space. Spaced out so that they didn't collide with the hanging chairs, were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"I never thought I could hate anyone so much until I met Giana Mancini," Nymeria Stark, the girl who was usually known as Nemesis, said as she kicked up her feet onto the white coffee table.

"God, I know right?" Shea Leonard, who went by the alias of Zero G, agreed as she flopped down in a beanbag chair. Some of the liquid from her glass sloshed out onto the floor and Shea frowned at it, moving her new heels away with a look of disgust.

"Is that booze?" Minnie Lin asked, wrinkling her nose. She was still dressed in her Puppeteer costume, mostly because she liked the pink hair ribbons.

"No, it's water." Shea replied curtly, rolling her eyes. "What do you think I am?"

"No, but you're you and it seems like something you would do. It kind of seems like the type of thing that you would do." Kimberly "Kimi" Hana-Richardson said. She was known as Mirror.

"I'm offended," Shea said mockingly as she raised the glass in an imaginary toast and more liquid sloshed out onto the floor. "And you're totally right. It's vodka tonic."

"Of course it is," Nymeria laughed with a roll of her green eyes.

The two enormous iron doors clanged against the walls as they were thrown open by Giana Mancini, who stood in silhouetted against the fading afternoon dusk light. She was wearing her usual black wraparound sunglasses. Wearing all black—a pea coat tied tightly around the waist, pumps, and leggings. Once she'd walked a little further into the room, it was easy to see that she looked angry.

"Of course, what?" Giana asked. She glared at the Five—directing most of her anger at the girls, even though Dmitri Kyle, or Panic, had started laughing for no apparent reason. She had screamed at him once before and he lashed out, leaving Giana in a coma-like state filled with nightmares. Between his schizophrenia and his powers, Giana had realized taking out her fury on Dmitri was a bad idea.

"None of your business, _Gina." _Nymeria mocked as she moved to sit in one of the swinging chairs—a pink one. She used her legs to pump like she would on a swing.

Giana's mouth tightened and when she spoke her voice was tight with anger; "It's Giana. All of you know that. I don't understand why you insist on calling me Gina."

"Maybe you aren't paying us enough!" Shea called, waving her glass around angrily. Kimi and Minnie nodded in agreement. Nymeria swung further so she flew about five feet away from Giana's face, nodding and smiling grotesquely each time she got close.

"And we're out of cookies again!" Minnie chimed in, picking up the empty container of _Chips Ahoy! _in Giana's face. A few crumbles sprayed out and landed on the Italian girl's otherwise impeccable outfit.

"Has anyone seen Dmitri's meds?" Kimi asked when he started to shy into a corner, looking panicked. "He's freaking out again. This is usually followed with him trying to kill us, _Gina. _In case you didn't know. But how could you know, you're never here and neither is Evil Eye or Cobalt."

"Would you all just shut up!?" Giana snarled, ripping off her sunglasses and freezing Shea where she sat with her gaze. The others immediately backed off with the exception of Dmitri, who'd backed off a while ago. Minnie dropped the _Chips Ahoy! _box on the ground and Kimi backed away. Nymeria slowed her swinging to a halt.

Giana put her sunglasses back on and smiled before leaving. The room was totally silent, even Dmitri didn't dare say a word. Shea remained frozen for the next five minutes.

* * *

Kylie was leading the pack of Guardians as they ran along forest trails after dark. They were on their third mile and Kylie had been pushing them hard recently. Before the run, they'd done a hard ab and weight workout that lasted a straight thirty minutes. Danny, or Orange, seemed to be lagging behind. He'd pushed himself too hard in the beginning and had been fading for the last half mile. He wasn't the only one—Evangeline Thanos, a.k.a. Gray, was lagging behind. She wasn't used to this as she normally found some way to wriggled out of everything super tough. This time she hasn't been so lucky.

"I swear, in a few weeks we'll find out she's a robot," Orange managed between gasps. He was clutching at the stitch in his left side.

"Orange, belly breathing like I told you!" Red yelled as she glanced back and noticed Orange's struggles. "You're chest breathing!"

"I have no idea what she's talking about, she just sounds crazy." Orange joked, smiling down at the tiny five-foot-nothing Gray. The small girl was also having the same breathing and side-stitch problem. They were still doing a running motion, but the two of them could have moved faster if they were just walking. A few Guardians were doing better, but most weren't exact keeping up with Red. She ran cross country races with times that took her to state and during track season her mile was sub-six.

"I'm pretty sure that we will find out she's a robot," Ben, known as Blue while in costume, said as he fell back to run next to Gray. He was barely breathing hard and Orange could tell that Blue wasn't slowing down because he was having a problem. He just wanted to talk to Gray.

Orange tried to put on a bit of speed and noticed that Jade Madara, always called Purple while she was a Guardian, was motioning him to come closer. She slowed down enough that he could speed up and catch her easily.

"Hey, Purps," Orange said, flashing her a bright smile. She rolled her eyes and jabbed her elbow into his side, hitting him right in the side stitch. This made him wince.

"We don't know each other all that well and we're two of the few humans on this team. We should be friends." Purple pointed out to him as they slowed down even further to keep up a conversation. Even as it was, they were gasping between words and Orange especially was struggling to talk and run.

"Shouldn't it not make a different what we are. Our good friends are mutants," Orange pointed out.

Purple let out a soft snort and glanced at her fellow Guardian. "Hold your side, take big exhales, and straight your posture. Don't think about it. Pinch your hand if you have to. Distract yourself."

"I don't think he needs to worry about it actually," Dakota Shade, or Silver, called as she fell back. Everyone was slowing down as they saw who was down the road from them. "Check out the road block."

Several members of the X-Men blocked their way. Storm, Beast, and Wolverine stood in front with Cyclops, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler behind them. Purple was relieved to see that Jean Grey and Rogue were not among them. Probably for the reason that they unsettled the Guardians. The last time the X-Men had approaches things had gotten violent. Mostly because of Red's paranoia about telepaths and "soul stealers" as she called Rogue.

"What do you want?" Red demanded, panting a little bit. She straightened her spine for a little extra height and put her hands on her hips.

"We just want to talk, child," Storm assured her. Despite her reassuring tone, all of the Guardians seemed wary of her. Of all of them. Yellow stifled laughter and looked over at Red, who most certainly didn't like being called a child.

"I'm a high school student, not a child. And you aren't going to bait me into exposing any of my teammates or telling you personal information. Now if you really want to talk, start talking before we have to fight you." Red snapped and signaled to her team to be quiet. Wolverine snorted and Red fixed him with a death glare that he matched.

"We came to offer you positions on the team. New codenames, safety at the Xavier Institute, and more sophisticated training." Cyclops explained, stepping forward and getting a little bit closer to Red.

"You can't, like, enjoy being named after colors," Shadowcat pointed out. A collective "oooohhh" that seemed to say Red's-gonna-lose-it rose from theGuardians. White and Silver stepped closer to Red and the others also fell into formation. Green dropped to a crouch and scooped up a handful of dirt and Gray started to spark.

"We aren't looking for a fight," Nightcrawler pointed out, his accent heavy on his words. "We just wanted to talk."

"You already talked," Red said, the danger in her voice nearly tangible. "Now move it or lose it."

"Are you going to consider our offer?" Beast questioned. This was his first time interacting with the Guardians and it was a little off putting. Red's icy glare from behind her mask and the fact the other Guardians all looked ready for a fight wasn't exactly helping much.

"We considered," Red replied. "And we reject your offer. Now get out of our way and stay out of it or things will get ugly. Very ugly."

"Listen here, bub—" Wolverine started to say before a ball of electrify from Gray hit him square in the chest. The metal bones acting as a conductor, his body spasmed for a minute before he got up again. He snarled and charged at the Guardians. Red hurled herself in his path, attempting to keep him distracted.

Nightcrawler teleported behind Silver and attempted to restrain her. Black fur erupted through her skin and her scream turned to a howl midway through. In the form of a giant and monstrous wolf, Silver wrestled out of his grasp. The furry blue mutant teleported at her again, grabbing her tail and pulling her away from his fellow X-Men. With a feral howl, Silver flung herself back at Nightcrawler. Both fighting to protect their respective team.

Purple and White had doubled up against Shadowcat without much luck. At first, they attempted the joint, head-on attacks that Kylie typically favored. Almost a fair fight, despite the two-on-one not being at all fair. Seeing as Shadowcat would simply become intangible and the two girls would harm themselves after they fell through, they tried something else. Purple stood in front of Shadowcat, baiting her. White stood behind her, occasionally darting in to land a blow. They whirled around in a circle like some kind of psychotic dance.

Cyan and Orange had pulled away from the fight, but they'd gotten out a cellphone to record the fight. Red didn't want the "techies" in combat yet and she'd definitely want to get a look at the weaknesses of some of the X-Men. In its waterproof case, Cyan'a iPhone was unaffected when Storm rose off the ground and rain began to pound down in sheets. Cyan put in his earplugs to block out the noise of the rain.

Green was flitting around Beast, hurling nonsense insults at him as she wove a net of vines up from the ground around him. Weaponizing and aggressive, the vines wove their way up his legs and around his body. Like quicksand, the more he struggled the harder they held him. Green stopped and grinned when he was held fast; arms bound to his sides, legs locked together.

Storm's rain had hurt only one of the Guardians, although it had slowed all of them, and that was Gray. Her electrical powers were now short circuiting, leaving her leaning against a tree. The X-Men were leaving her alone. After all, they weren't trying to harm the Guardians, just bold them off for the time being. They knew that the Guardians were aggressive when their identities were threatened.

Cyclops had fallen to his knees, hands pressed firmly over his ears. Yellow stood over him, clapping. The sound amplified in Cyclops' ears, making it almost completely unbearable.

Red pulled away from Wolverine and raced a few feet away before yelling to the other Guardians: "Fade out!"

They all darted into the forest and disappeared, leaving the X-Men rather confused. Storm landed beside Wolverine and glanced around. Everyone was relatively unharmed. The Guardians hadn't done lasting damage, just cuts and bruises.

"What just happened?" Shadowcat asked.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry for my lack of updates. My house got a little flooded and although the damage was minor I've had very little time to write. My apogolies to all my readers and thanks to my reviewers for the continued support. **


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